An interior view of Meraki Coffee Co. that shows the design’s many ways of promoting surveillance in the space.

In Building the Empire of The Gaze: The Modern Movement and the Surveillance Society, Peter Jones discusses how the Modern Movement is a society that has systematically grown to be centralized around a strong desire for visibility and in-turn, led to a ‘surveillance society’. Jones cites Michel Foucault throughout the text. Jones brings up many of Foucault’s arguments, principles, and solutions in regards to how ‘mechanisms of visibility’ have systematically become inseparable from society’s idea of power. Jones analyzes the connection between modern society’s emphasis on surveillance being a necessity and how the visualization of power has systematically been taught through ‘disciplinary mechanisms’. Many different architectural space types are analyzed with a perspective on how their different uses play an effect on the belief in the necessity of surveillance/disciplinary mechanisms and their connection to sense of control/power. Modernist Architecture and the Modern Movement have assisted in the transition to a surveillance society through the heavy emphasis on designing with an intent on ‘absolute publicity’ and establishing a sense of control over the space in its layout. There are many design strategies that have been implemented to create ‘spaces of constructed visibility’ introduced throughout the text; but, there is a strong argument that is repeatedly discussed on the role that the Panopticon model prison has made on the Modern Movement.

Meraki Coffee Co. is designed with careful attention to detail in regards to the worker’s ability to monitor the café space. The counter where orders are taken and drinks are made is central in the design’s layout. The counter is strategically positioned to have the worker(s) facing the exterior windows and doors, the main entrances. The counter also has a clear view to the indoor and outdoor seating areas throughout the café. Almost the entirety of the cafe’s main exterior façade utilizes glass. This heavy use of glass in the façade shows the constructed visibility that has created a much larger view frame for everyone (inside and outside) using the space. The importance in designing with consideration to surveillance is shown throughout many aspects of Meraki Coffee Co. in a subtle way that works alongside promoting Meraki Coffee’s character and aesthetic. The well-lit space’s use of light colors, natural materials, an interior open-concept, a strong connection to the exterior, and the overall use of glass in Meraki Coffee Co. closely aligns to Jones and Foucault’s argument of a modern surveillance society being systematically defined in Modernist architecture.